ABSTRACT
This may not be a surprise, but at the cellular and molecular level, biology operates at the nanoscale. Integrin-based adhesion between a cell and its underlying substrate has specic dimensional parameters: integrin proteins must be properly spaced and organized within the plasma membrane at nanoscale tolerances to facilitate the intracellular bundling of actin laments and attachment to the extracellular matrix [1-4]. Stacks of nanoscale intracellular lamellar discs must be spaced 12-15 nm within the outer segment of the photoreceptor cell to display the photoreactive rhodopsin complexes for excitation by light [5-7]. The mechanisms that underlie the nanoscale nature of biology are built into the molecules that make up life itself. Biological molecules such as proteins, phospholipids, and nucleic acids rapidly form elaborate structures spontaneously as dictated by constrains provided by their composition [8-11]. Cytoskeletal structures such as eukaryotic microlaments, tubulin-based microtubules, or even actin-like lamentous structure in bacteria assemble to regulate linear nanostructures that play many critical roles in the cell such as vesicle transport, segregation of genetic information, and cell shape and structure [12-15].
